1. Teaching All Children to Read
Kathleen Theodore, MA, Program Specialist
Southeast Comprehensive Center

2. Objectives Participants will be able to:
Understand the key components of effective reading instruction
Engage in demonstrations of research-based reading strategies
Discuss the importance of improving literacy outcomes within the school improvement process

3. Research Base Report of the National Put Reading First Reading Next
Reading Panel
More than 20 years of research have shown us what works with regard to teaching reading.

4. “We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children to read. We already have reams of research, hundreds of successful programs, and thousands of effective schools to show us the way. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.”
McEwan, 1998

5. Five Essential Components
Research indicates that students need to acquire skills and knowledge in at least five main areas in order to become proficient readers.
Phonemic awareness
Phonics
Identifying words accurately and fluently
Fluency
This slide is from the Florida Center For Reading Research and Joe Torgesen. Fortunately, much congruent and converging evidence from scientific research has shown that there are five critical components necessary to learning to read. The first three deal with learning to read, the next with reading to learn.
Since the first three are the foundational skills for learning to read, they must drive instruction, and they must drive assessment.
Note: Children need to be fluent in all of the 5 components. Fluency is a necessary for every component.
However, the next few slides will examine the role of phonemic awareness and phonics in developing accurate and fluent word reading ability---a necessary step in children become fluent readers.
For further study of this information, please study the work of Linnea Ehri.
Constructing meaning once words are identified
Vocabulary
Comprehension strategies

6. Systematic and Explicit Instruction
Discuss how the research is very clear in that all of the 5 components must be taught systematically and explicitly.

7. What Is Systematic Instruction?
Lessons and activities are divided into sequential, manageable steps.
Concepts and tasks progress from simple to more complex.
Concepts and skills are explicitly defined and order of introduction follows a preplanned sequence.
Read points on slide.

8. What Is Explicit Instruction?
Nothing is left to chance; all skills are taught directly.
Practice activities are carefully guided with “instructive” error correction.
Practice activities are carefully engineered to produce mastery.
Critical skills are developed through carefully monitored instruction, and the focus is on mastery.
Review is built into every lesson.
Explicit instruction is essential so that children understand, receive feedback on their performance, and are given opportunities to apply what they know.

9. Steps of Explicit Instruction
Direct Instruction: The teacher explains to the students what they are learning and why.
Modeling: The teacher models or demonstrates (how).
Guided Practice: The teacher guides and assists students as they learn when or how to apply the strategy.
Application: The teacher helps students practice the strategy until they can apply it independently.
Here is the big instructional piece for participants. Really stress these 4 points and review after going over each bullet.
There are 4 steps in explicit instruction:
Direct Instruction: The teacher explains. (Read the points on the slide)
(2) Modeling
(3) Guided Practice
(4) Application

10. Explicit Instruction I DO YOU WATCH YOU DO I WATCH I DO YOU HELP
Say: Remember to keep the gradual release of responsibility model in mind when you are planning instruction. Also, remember that our ultimate goal is to teach our students to be independent readers.
(Explain how this is a recursive process. The teacher adjusts the instruction based on the degree to which students are “getting it.” For instance, while monitoring students’ performance during the “You do: I help” stage, the teacher might determine the need to return to the “I do: You watch” stage. Sometimes it may take several cycles through the process before students “get it” and can “do it” independently.)
YOU DO I HELP
Wilhelm, J. D., Baker, T. D., & Dube, J. (2001). Strategic reading: Guiding students to lifelong literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

11. Phonemic Awareness (PA)
The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds—phonemes—in spoken words
The understanding that sounds in spoken language work together to make words
Notes:
In order to read words, children must be phonemically aware. Phonemic awareness is awareness of the sound system in our language. It’s an awareness of speech sounds—the insight that spoken words are made up of individual sounds that are used and reused to make different words.
Phonemic awareness is one of the greatest predictors of success in reading. You know just how complex our alphabetic system is; the thing that is the best predictor of successfully reading has nothing to do with print at all but rather with listening to sounds.

12. Phonological Awareness Ladder
Isolation
Identity
Categorization 1
Blending
Segmentation 2
Deletion
Addition
Substitution 3
Levels of Complexity
Complex
Listening
Rhyming and
Alliteration
Words in a Sentence
Onset-rime
Syllables
Phonemes
Notes:
Phonological awareness is a broad term used when the size of the phonological unit is larger than a phoneme.
The difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness is that phonemic awareness is one type of phonological awareness skills;
phonological awareness is awareness of units in speech—words, syllables, and all the way to separate sounds in words (which is phonemic awareness).
Mathematically speaking, phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness.
This ladder shows how children generally acquire phonological awareness skills over time:
From the earlier developing awareness of listening,, rhyming, and alliteration
To knowing that sentences can be segmented into separate words
That words can be broken into parts called syllables
Then words can also be segmented by onset-rime
The top step of this ladder is phonemic awareness, which is the most complex—the awareness of the separate sounds in words, the predictor for reading success.
Simple
Adapted from Vaughn Gross Center

13. Understanding Phonemes
In the English language, all spoken words are constructed from about 44 different phonemes.
f – o – g
g – o – l – f
The English writing system is based on the discovery that we can represent words using marks (letters) to stand for the sounds in words.
Notes:
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word that makes a difference its meaning. Let’s check out your PA. How many sounds are in fog? What are they?
The next one is a little harder. How many sounds are in golf? (4) Verify this for participants by having them say golf without the /l/. Since you can split it and get a different word, it is a separate sound. Another example, slap, has four sounds. Without /l/, the word is sap. Since you get a different word when you take it out, it is a separate sound. Again, a phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word that makes a difference in its meaning.
Our instruction needs to progress to helping kids pick apart the sounds, even in blends.
The English writing system (refer to slide) Note that this is an economic way to learn to read.
Joe Torgesen,

14. Acquiring PA
Why is acquiring phonemic awareness hard for many children?
Phonemes are co-articulated in spoken words.
train dragon
The same thing that makes speech fluent makes reading hard for many children.
Notes:
Why is acquiring phonemic awareness hard? It’s hard because speech is very elusive. When we speak, we can’t see the white spaces in between letters that make up the words. Spoken language is seamless. Speaking and listening do not require explicit knowledge of speech sounds.
Adapted from Joe Torgesen,

15. Why Is PA Important?
Children must understand that words in their oral language are composed of small segments of sound in order to comprehend the way that language is represented by print.
Without at least emergent levels of phonemic awareness, the rationale for learning individual letter sounds and “sounding out” words is not understandable.
Without PA, “phonics” doesn’t make sense!
Notes:
Go over slide.
What we know is that phonemic awareness, that conscious awareness that words are made up of sounds, primes kids for our alphabetic writing system. It gets kids ready to understand that those sounds in the words we say can be represented by print. They must be consciously aware of the fact that spoken words are made up of sounds that can be pulled apart and put back together again. So it is a critical understanding in learning to read.
Adapted from Joe Torgesen,

16. PA: The Anchor for Phonics
Therefore: We must learn to produce and manipulate phonemes and to recognize common confusions in children.
Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling © 2003 Sopris West. All rights reserved.

17. PA Activity: Say-It Move-it
Have participants count the number of phonemes they hear in the following words:
lamp (4), sun (3), snake (4).
You will count the number of sounds they hear in the pictures on the next 3 slides.
Optional: Next let them work with pairs and do the segmenting activity. You need sets of picture cards for group work. Ask participants to work together and count the number of phonemes they hear. Then discuss it. Was it hard, is it something that they can do in class?
pie(2)
boat (3)
phone(3)
spoon (4)
turtle (4)

18. s b Phonics m d The relationship between letters and sounds
Alphabetic understanding
Readers use these relationships to recognize familiar words accurately and automatically and to decode unfamiliar words.
Notes:
The next big idea that is critical for learning to read is alphabetic understanding. Alphabetic understanding is understanding that when you say sounds, they can be represented by print using the alphabet, that the letters of the alphabet capture our speech and maps it onto print.
It is the understanding that these letters, which correspond to sounds, mean nothing in and of themselves but can be put together to form words that have meaning. Kids have to know that we use those written letters to produce sounds and to read words. This understanding is very important, and it must be taught very explicitly and systematically so that kids will understand the relationship between the sounds they hear and the writing system. b d s m
Joe Torgesen, fcrr.org

19. Phonics Pronounce this word . . . blit frachet Notes:
When we teach phonics we want our students to learn which letters represent which phonemes, and we want it to be automatic. We want them to over-learn the correspondences between letters and sounds.
Let’s test your phonics skills. Pronounce this word (blit). Your brain quickly knows sounds that each letter represents. Have them pronounce the second word (frachet).
Joe Torgesen, fcrr.org

20. Demonstration of Explicit Instruction
Teaching Letter Sound Correspondences
/m/
Follow demonstration from your script.

21. r a t Continuous Blending 1. 2. 4. 3. 5. Write r and say /r/.
Write a and say /a/.
Slide fingers under ra and say /ra/.
Write t and say /t/.
Slide fingers under rat and say /rat/.
Say “The word is rat” and use it in a sentence.
The first approach is called Sound-by-sound blending.
Let’s follow along with the steps. I’ll be the teacher and you be the student.
I’ll write the r, and point to it and say /r/
Then I’ll write the a, and point to it and we’ll all say /a/
When I slide my fingers under the first 2 letters, you will blend that much of the word - /ra/
Finally I’ll write the last letter, t, we’ll say it /t/
And then blend the whole word - /rat/
What other names for this type of blending have you heard? - additive blending
(Louisa Moats, Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling)

22. sh a c k Whole Word Blending 1. 2. 3. 4.
Point to the digraph sh and say “sound.”
Point to the a and say “sound.”
Point to the ck and say “sound.”
Slide fingers under the whole word to blend it.
This approach is called whole word blending and it’s a little different.
First I’ll write the letters sh on the board and prompt you for the sound /sh/
Second I’ll write the next grapheme, a, and prompt you again for the sound /a/
Third – I’ll write the last graphem, ck, and prompt you to say /ck/
Finally I’ll slide my fingers under the whole word to prompt you to say the word - /shack/
How was this different from sound-by-sound blending?
Whole word blending is often called touch and say.
(Louisa Moats, Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling)

23. r a t Vowel First Blending 4. 1. 2. 3. 5. Write a and say /a/.
Write t and say /t/.
Slide fingers under at and say /at/.
Write r and say /r/.
Slide fingers under rat and say /rat/.
Say “The word is rat” and use it in a sentence.
Another common approach for blending is presented here. I used this when I taught Open Court.
. This form of blending helps students who misread the vowel in the word by making them focus on the vowel.
First the student writes the vowel and reads its sound.
Next the student reads the letter after the vowel and combines the two letters into a word part.
Finally, the student reads the first letter and adds it to the word part already read.
This technique is not usually the first blending technique used in a reading program, but can be used to help children who have difficulty with continuous or whole word blending.

24. The Long Trek Up Mount Decoding
Simple Prefixes, Roots, and Base Words
Final Y to I
Simple Inflectional Endings
Compound Words
Plural Endings
Consonant Doubling
Other Vowel Patterns
Long Vowel Patterns
Discuss Ladder. Notice at the top of the ladder--simple prefixes, roots, and base words-- is where you get into multisyllabic words. Key points: As students develop grapho-phonemic knowledge they become increasingly aware of the sounds of spoken language and their relationship to the letters of written language.
Grapho-phonemic knowledge is developed through explicit and systematic instruction in working with sounds, letters, and words. Student should be explicitly taught sound symbol correspondences and they need instruction and practice in using sound symbol relationships to read and write words.
As students develop stronger grapho-phonemic knowledge they should be shown directly how to examine words for common patterns and distinctive features. Student should understand that the way words are built is not random. Most word parts provide us with direct clues to meaning and spelling. Learning to look at and study words carefully will help student develop knowledge of word structure which will equip them with the skills needed to attack multisyllabic words. This process leads to faster and more efficient word identification.
Point out that that there is a huge gap between NWF and ORF. Using a phonics survey will determine where to begin phonics instruction with students needing intervention.
Digraphs and Blends
Short Vowels
Initial/Final Consonant Sounds
Letter to Sound Linking

25. Fluency
The ability to read text accurately and quickly with expression
The bridge between word recognition and comprehension
Notes:
The third big idea of beginning reading instruction is fluency.
Once kids understand that words are made up of sounds, they have cracked the code, learned sound symbol relationships, and can read many words. Now they must develop fluency.
Fluency is the ability to read quickly, accurately, and with expression. When the foundational skills of phonemic awareness, alphabetic understanding (phonics), and word reading (phonemic decoding and sight word efficiency) are well developed, children can move with great ease into fluency. Fluency is necessary for comprehension.

26. Why Fluency?
Fluency
“44% of a representative sample of the nation’s fourth- and eighth-graders were low in fluency.” (NAEP)
“Fluency is a neglected skill in many American classrooms, affecting many students’ reading comprehension.”
“It provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.”
[Title for this slide??]
[Are these quotes all from NAEP? If so, let’s just list it in the bottom corner like we have no previous slides. If not, we need to say where the other two quotes came from.]
Read the points on the slide.
Explain what NAEP is: National Assessment of Educational Progress and that it is also known as "the Nation's Report Card." It is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Since 1969, assessments have been conducted periodically in major subject areas such as reading.
Ask participants why they think fluency is a neglected skill in many classrooms (3rd bullet) and how they think it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension (4th bullet).

27. What Is Fluency? Speed + Accuracy = Fluency
Reading quickly and in a meaningful way (prosody)
Decoding and comprehending simultaneously
Freedom from word identification problems
Fluency is derived from the Latin word fluens which means “to flow”
Smooth and effortless reading
Ultimately, the goal when reading is to understand what is read. Fluency is more than speed…Fluent readers read in phrases and respect intonation patterns. Speed must be adequate, but processing the meaning during reading and phrasing the text are more important indicators of fluency.

28. Cognitive Desk Space Activity

29. dvancs n nrscnc, spcll nrmgng tchnqus, llw rsrchrs to dcmnt dffrncs btwn go nd pr rdrs. Mgntc rsnnc mgng (MR) nd thr tchnqs llstrt qt cncrtl tht pr rdrs r strgglng wth th bscs,sndng t nd rcgnzng wrds bt b bt. G rdrs, hwvr, hv dvlpd wrd dntfctn hbts tht r sbsmd b th pstrr r bck rs f th brn. Th “pr rdr” pttrns chng whn rmdtn s sccssfl.

30. Who Has Felt Like This?

31. Advances in neuroscience, especially neuroimaging techniques, allow researchers to document differences between good and poor readers. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other techniques illustrate quite concretely that poor readers are struggling with the basics, sounding out and recognizing words bit by bit.
Good readers, however, have developed word
identification habits that are subsumed by the posterior or back areas of the brain. The “poor reader” patterns change when remediation is successful.

32. Fluent Readers . . . Recognize words automatically
Read aloud effortlessly and with expression
Do not have to concentrate on decoding
Can focus on comprehension
Read points on the slide.
Looking at this slide, (especially in light of what we’ve just discussed--if conducted activity on previous slide), the most basic definition of fluency is simply the ability to read text accurately and quickly. Researchers add a few more characteristics: for example, good prosody. This is a linguistic term that refers to the melody in our speech and our ability to express it. That’s what underlies what we often call “good expression”. Consider these two sentences and you’ll quickly know what I mean by speech melody or prosody (reading in a meaningful way as mentioned on the previous slide):
(Flat#1) She secretly slipped the disgusting rodent into his soup!
(Read second time with melody!)
What’s the difference you hear between the two sentences? The second reading---the one with the flowing melody--- helped you understand much more quickly the meaning of the sentence. In other words, reading words and sentences with melody or prosody aids comprehension and this is the most basic reason why fluency is so important: comprehension. Fluent reading is the bridge to comprehension. So, the most well-known definition of fluency is the ability to read text accurately, quickly, and with good prosody so that time can be allocated to comprehension processes. We will discuss more about the importance of prosody and even practice this quality ourselves a little later on in the training.
Put Reading First 2001, p. 22

33. Indicators of Fluency Words per minute Reading with expression
Recall/retelling
Read points on the slide. Notice that in the sentence I just read aloud twice (previous slide), the second time I not only read with much more expression, I was fluent and, therefore, much more likely to read many more words per minute and recall what I had read.

34. Factors That Inhibit Fluency
Unfamiliarity with text
Limited vocabulary
Difficulty with syntax
Decoding breakdown
Read the points on the slide and relate to reading passage exercise on previous slide.
Explain what is meant by syntax: How different words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.) are combined into clauses, which in turn, are combined into sentences. Different languages have different rules of syntax that constrain the way words and phrases can be arranged. Syntax can help people figure out meanings for unfamiliar words. For example, consider the sentence, “I fell asleep while waiting for Mary to return from the tembal.” Your knowledge of English syntax helps you to develop some ideas about what “tembal” might mean, but if you were not familiar with English syntax, you might not even know that “tembal” is a noun.
Each one of these factors that inhibit fluency can cause the other factors to exist. For example, if you have difficulty with the syntax presented in a text, it’s likely that your understanding of the vocabulary will be limited and decoding will breakdown.

35. “The fluent reader sounds good, is easy to listen to, and reads with enough expression to help the listener understand and enjoy the material.”
Charles Clark, 1999
Simply stated…read the slide.
For fluent readers, the written words themselves are basically "transparent" so they are able to devote all of their attention to the task of understanding the message contained within the text.

36. What Skills Do Students Need to Be Fluent?
Decoding skills
Comprehension skills
Students need decoding skills as well as comprehension skills to be fluent.
Ask for examples of decoding skills (word recognition, phonics rules, patterns) and comprehension skills (literal, inferential, and evaluative). Both decoding and comprehension skills are measured on standardized tests.

37. “The goal in fluency instruction is not fast reading, although that happens to be a by-product of the instruction, but fluent meaning-filled reading.”
International Reading Association
It is important to remember that while students can be trained to read fluently, and acquiring fluency for many struggling readers is a step toward becoming a skilled reader, this instruction should not ignore, and does not preclude, comprehension of the text.
It is critical that the teacher provides a model for fluent reading. As the teacher reads, the student hears the musical flow of the story in the phrasing and expression.
The practice of the teacher reading aloud is invaluable to the teaching of reading fluency. Fluent reading should be modeled every day, but it does not have to be done with a lengthy book. Poems and picture books work just as well. Reading just certain parts of stories or books can also be effective.

38. Guided Oral Reading But why can’t we just do what we’ve always done?
Round Robin Oral Reading
One robust finding in research reviews is that guided oral reading improves fluency. But guided oral reading is defined in many different ways.
Many teachers tend to view oral reading fluency development as synonymous with Round Robin Oral reading.
Why do you think that teachers gravitate toward RR?
Steve Stahl took a strong stance against this practice; although it may be somewhat effective in fluency development, it is likely to be much less effective than alternative practices. Observational studies indicate that (much to teachers’ disbelief) other children are not anxiously following along – in fact, it is impossible to follow along directly. Mostly children are reading ahead, trying to find their next spot, or simply daydreaming. At any rate, children only definitely read what they read out loud and overall engagement is low.
Teachers also tend to argue that RR allows them to provide necessary feedback and scaffolding for children during reading. While this is theoretically possible, observational studies again suggest that it is rare. What teachers do during RR is tell children words.
In lieu of those two findings, round robin is simply inefficient. Instructional time is wasted.
So let’s talk about what teachers can do instead.
Think about and discuss some alternatives to Round Robin Oral Reading.
Each child reads too little;
engagement is low
Instructional time is wasted
Teacher-provided
feedback is of low quality

39. Repeated Readings
Read the same passage several times until the desired rate is reached.
Keep reading at the same level until the same rate is reached three times, then move on to a new level and repeat the procedure.
Do this daily.
Perform at least 3-4 repetitions of the text each day.
Identifying appropriate text:
Independent reading level:
95% accuracy
Misread one of every 20 words
Various genres

40. What Is Vocabulary?
Vocabulary refers to the words we must know to communicate effectively.
Oral vocabulary refers to words that we use in speaking or recognize in listening.
Reading vocabulary refers to words we recognize or use in print.

41. A Longitudinal Study Meaningful Differences in the
Everyday Experience of Young
American Children
Betty Hart & Todd Risley, 1995

42. Reading Difficulties Begin Here . . .
Actual differences in quantity of words heard
In a typical hour, the average child would hear:
Low-SES family: 615 words
Working-class family: 1,250 words
Professional family: 2,153 words
How can we as educators fill in the gaps?

43. What Does the Research Say?
Homes rich in communication: Children
before the age of 4 have heard 45 million words.
Homes that lack rich communication: Children
before the age of 4 have heard 13 million words.
Hart and Risley, 1996
Many students enter our classroom without a rich word base.

44. Meaningful Differences
Affirmative statements
Professional = 30 per hour
Working class = 15 per hour
Welfare = 6 per hour
Hart and Risley, 1996
A quote from Hart & Risley emphasizes the gravity of the statement on the slide:
“Our experience in Preschool intervention suggest that it will take thousands of hours of affirmative feedback even to begin to overcome what this child has learned about herself in the first 3 years of life: (p.188).

45. The Achievement Gap
It is now well accepted that the chief cause of the achievement gap between socioeconomic groups is a language gap.
Hirsch, 2003
It is opportunity to learn language that has created the meaningful differences in many students lives.

46. The Research Says . . . Most vocabulary is learned indirectly.
Some vocabulary must be taught directly.

47. How Are Words Learned Indirectly?
Children learn the meanings of most words indirectly through everyday experiences with oral and written language.
Everyday experiences include engaging daily in oral language, listening to adults read to them, and reading extensively on their own.

48. How Are Words Learned Directly?
Vocabulary can be developed directly when
students are explicitly taught both individual words and word-learning strategies.

49. Past Practice: Dictionary
“Rote memorization of words and
definitions is the least effective
instructional method resulting in little
long-term effect.”
Kameenui, Dixon, & Carine, 1987)
The “look up the word in a dictionary and write a sentence method” has proven to be less helpful. The dictionary has multiple definitions that to a child is daunting. Definitions, for instance, for unremmittable might be “unable to be remitted” giving little idea of meaning. The child writes the word in a sentence without much context. Matching meanings and definitions on a Friday test do not constitute a thorough knowledge of any word. If the ONLY exposure to the words we are teaching is with the dictionary, we are limiting our students.

50. Levels of Word Knowledge
Never Saw It Before
Have Heard It, But Don’t Know What It Means
Know Something About It
Know It Well/Can Use It in a Sentence
As a pre-reading activity, students might examine a list of specialized vocabulary for that particular lesson. Part of ownership involves students assessing what level of knowledge they have regarding those words. Those students who “know it well” can share their prior experience with the words.

51. You Try It Word plethora stupendous pugnacious sensitive dubious
Do not know the word
Have seen or heard the word
Know some-thing about it; can relate it to a situation
Know it well, can explain it, use it
plethora
stupendous
pugnacious
sensitive
dubious

52. How Do We Increase Vocabulary Knowledge?
New words are:
1. Encountered repeatedly in context through reading and listening
2. Linked to students’ prior knowledge
3. Connected with other words that are semantically related
Strategy one, connect to the text, is critical for vocabulary development.

53. I. Beck, M. McKeown, & L. Kucan
Bringing Words to Life
I. Beck, M. McKeown, & L. Kucan
Guilford Press, 2002
This wonderful new book from Isabelle Beck provides a good guide to what we mean about explicit and robust instruction to build children’s vocabulary so that it will help them in reading comprehension.

54. Which Words to Teach?
As a way to begin thinking about which words to teach, consider that words in language have different levels of utility. In this regard, researchers have found the notion of tiers.

55. Three Tiers
Tier One consists of the most basic words that rarely require instruction in school.
Tier Three includes words whose frequency of use is quite low, often being limited to specific domains.
Tier Two are high-frequency words that appear in a wide variety of texts and in oral and written language of mature language users; thus, instruction in these words can add productively to an individual’s language ability.
As a way to begin thinking about which words to teach, consider that words in the language have different levels of utility. In this regard, researchers have identified the notion of tiers.
Tier 1: baby, clock, happy Tier 3: isotope, lathe, peninsula. These words would not be of high utility for most learners and are probably best learned when a specific need arises, such as introducing peninsula during a geography lesson. Tier 2: appear in a wide variety of texts: coincidence, absurd, industrious
Beck, I. L., Mc Keown, M. G., Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction.

56. Some Criteria for Identifying Tier-Two Words
Importance and utility: Words that are characteristics of mature language users and appear across a variety of domains
Instructional potential: Words that can be worked with in a variety of ways so that students can build rich representations of them and of their connections to other words and concepts
Conceptual understanding: Words for which students understand the general concept but provide precision in describing the concept
Best estimate of Tier One, the most familiar words that need no instruction, is 8,000 word families, and Tier Two is 7, 000 word families.
I. L. Beck, M. G. McKeown, & L. Kucan, 2002

57. Identifying Tier-Two Words in Text
Johnny Harrington was a kind master who treated his servants fairly. He was also a successful wool merchant, and his business required that he travel often. In his absence, his servants would tend to the fields and cattle and maintain the upkeep of his mansion. They performed their duties happily, for they felt fortunate to have such a benevolent and trusting master.
The story would likely be of interest to third or fourth graders. The underlined words are consistent with the notion of Tier 2 words. That is, most of the words are likely to appear frequently in a wide variety of texts and in oral and written language of mature language users. One ‘test” of whether a word meets Tier 2 criterion is to think about whether students already have ways to express the concepts represented by the word(s). Would students be able to explain the word using words that are already well-known to them.

58. Students’ Likely Expressions salesperson or a clerk have to
Tier-Two Words
merchant
required
tend
maintain
performed
fortunate
benevolent
Students’ Likely Expressions
salesperson or a clerk
have to
take care of
keep going
did
lucky
kind
Adding these seven target words to young students’ vocabulary repertoires would seem to be quite productive because learning the words would allow students to describe with greater specificity people and situations with which they already have some familiarity. Emphasize STRONG GENERAL UTILITY of the words and FAIRLY GENERAL but SOPHISTICATED WORDS.

59. You Try It
The servants would never comment on this strange occurrence (finding the kitchen clean even though none of them were seen doing the cleaning), each servant hoping the other had tended to the chores. Never would they mention the loud noises they’d hear emerging from the kitchen in the middle of the night. Nor would they admit to pulling the covers under their chins as they listened to the sound of haunting laughter that drifted down the halls to their bedrooms each night. In reality they knew there was a more sinister reason behind their good fortune.
This excerpt is from the tale about the donkey under the magical spell described a few slides back (Kohnke, 2001, p. 12): The Pooka of Allihies. Cricket, 28(7),

60. Students’ Likely Expressions
Tier-Two Words
comment
occurrence
tended
mention
emerging
admit
haunting
reality
sinister
fortune
Students’ Likely Expressions
something someone says
something happening
took care of
tell
coming out
to say you did something
scary
being real
luck
Now, the notion of tiers of words is not a precise one, and the lines between tiers are not clear-cut, so your selection may not match this one. Think about the criteria.

61. What Is Comprehension? Comprehension is . . . The reason for reading
Purposeful and active thinking in which meaning is constructed and reconstructed through interactions between the text and the reader
The ability to understand and gain meaning from what has been read.
Comprehension is the reason for reading. If readers can read the words but do not understand what they are reading, they are not really reading.
Good readers are both purposeful and active.

62. Text structure, vocabulary, print style and font, discourse, genre, motivating features
Word recognition, vocabulary, background knowledge, strategy use, inference-making abilities, motivation
Text
Reader
Comprehension
Context
Reader Based Factors
Phonemic Awareness
Alphabetic Understanding
Fluency with the Code
Vocabulary
Prior Knowledge
Engagement and Interest
Text Based Factors
Narrative vs Expository Text
Genre
Quality of text
Density and difficulty of concepts
Environment, purpose, social relations, cultural norms, motivating features (e.g., school/classroom climate, families, peers)

63. Levels of Comprehension
Evaluative
“Think and Search” and reading beyond the lines
Inferential
“Think and Search” or reading between the lines
Literal
“Right There”

64. Characteristics of Effective Reading
Passage 1
Passage 2
Passage 3

65. Passage 1
The boy’s arrows were nearly gone so they sat down on the grass and stopped hunting. Over at the edge of the forest they saw Henry making a bow to a small girl who was coming down the road. She had tears in her dress and also tears in her eyes. She gave Henry a note which he brought over to the group of young hunters. Read to the boys, it caused great excitement. After a minute but rapid examination of their weapons, they ran down to the valley. Does were standing near the edge of the lake making an excellent target.

66. Passage 2
A newspaper is better than a magazine, and on a seashore is a better place than a street. At first, it is better to run than to walk. Also, you may have to try several times. It takes some skill but it’s easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Once successful, complications are minimal. Birds seldom get too close. One needs lots of room. Rain soaks in very fast. Too many people doing the same thing can also cause problems. If there are no complications, it can be very peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things break loose from it, however, you will never get a second chance.

67. Passage 3
The two boys ran until they came to the driveway. “See, I told you today was good for skipping school,” said Mark. “Mom is never home on Thursday,” he added. The boys strolled across the finely landscaped yard. “I never knew your place was so big,” said Pete. “Yeah, but it’s nicer now than it used to be since Dad had the new stone siding put on and added a fireplace.”
There were front and back doors and a side door that led to the garage, which was empty except for three 10-speed bikes.They went in the side door, which Mark said was always open.
Pete wanted to see the house so Mark started in the living room. It, like the rest of the downstairs, was newly painted. Mark turned on the stereo, and the noise worried Pete. “Don’t worry, the nearest house is a quarter of a mile away,” Mark shouted. Pete felt more comfortable knowing that no houses could be seen in any direction beyond the huge yard.

68. The dining room, with all the china, silver, and cut glass, was no place to play so the boys moved to the kitchen, where they made sandwiches. Mark said they wouldn’t go in the basement because it had been damp ever since the new plumbing was installed.
“This is where my Dad keeps his famous paintings and his coin collection,” Mark said as they went into the den. Mark bragged that he could get spending money whenever he needed it since he discovered that his Dad kept $20 bills in the desk drawer.
There were three upstairs bedrooms. Mark showed Pete his mother’s closet, which was filled with furs and a locked box that held her jewels. His sister’s room was uninteresting except for the color TV and the new carpet. The big highlight in Mark’s room, however, was a leak in the ceiling where the old roof had rotted.

69. Comprehension Strategies
Monitoring comprehension
Using graphic and semantic organizers
Answering questions
Generating questions
Recognizing story structure
Summarizing
Making use of prior knowledge
Using mental imagery

70. Improving Literacy Outcomes
Improving Literacy is part of an entire school-wide improvement process.

71. School Improvement Plan
Leadership
Vision
Commitment
Buy-in
High Expectations
Ask participants first what comes to mind when they hear the words school improvement.
achievement

72. Six Key Elements
Commitment to meeting individual student needs at all levels
Adopting and implementing a research-based reading curriculum
Objective assessment to evaluate student progress and the effectiveness of reading programs
Designing and implementing an effective instructional delivery system
Maximizing available instructional time
Administrative monitoring of student progress and program implementation

73. Improving the Reading Program by Adding Assessment and Intervention
Hartsfield Elementary School characteristics:
70% free and reduced lunch (increasing)
65% minority (mostly Black)
Elements of curriculum change:
Movement to a more research-based reading curriculum beginning in 1994–1995 school year for K–2 (incomplete implementation)
Improved implementation in 1995–1996
Implementation of screening and more intensive small-group instruction for at-risk students in Fall 1996
Notes: Also from the Reading Leadership Academy
This slide and the next slide tell the story of Hartsfield Elementary School. Hartsfield improved literacy outcomes for students within a whole school improvement process model.
Hartsfield modified its reading curriculum in grades K–2 with a research-based, comprehensive reading program.
They also added intensive instructional intervention for children who were at risk on a screening assessment. At the time these data were collected, Hartsfield Elementary School was serving a student population in which 70% of the children received free or reduced lunch, and 65% were minority students.

74. Hartsfield Elementary School Progress Over 5 Years
Improved implementation of research-based comprehensive reading program
31.8
Proportion falling below the 25th percentile in word-reading ability at the end of first grade
Screening at beginning of first grade, with additional instructional intervention for those in bottom 30–40% 30
20.4 20
Notes:
In 1994, the school began to implement a more research-based, balanced reading curriculum in its K–3 classrooms. This change took them about 2 years to implement fully.
After the first year of implementation of the more balanced curriculum, about 32% of the children finished first grade with reading scores below the 25th percentile.
[click] In 1996 the research-based, comprehensive reading program was more fully implemented.
[click] With the more complete implementation, about 20% were reading below the 25th percentile.
[click] In 1997 they began screening children at the beginning of first grade and providing intensive instructional intervention to children who were at risk on their measures.
[click] The next year, only 11% of the children were still poor readers at the end of first grade.
[click] [click] By the end of 1999, only about 4% of the children were reading below the 25th percentile.
[click] During this same period of time, the overall percentile in reading ability of all the children at the end of first grade increased from the 49th percentile at the end of 1995 to the 82nd percentile at the end of 1999.
10.9 10
6.7
3.7
Average percentile for entire grade (n = 105)

75. Talking Point

76. Review of Key Elements
When considering high quality professional development at the school level one must take in account the dynamic nature of three key elements; in which one cannot exist without the other.
There is the SRRR: scientifically based reading research in which we use as the foundation to base sound instructional decisions.
From the SBRR one must consider the SBRI (scientifically based reading instruction) in which all children must engage and interact with on a daily basis.
Lastly, one must consider all assessment data when making instructional decisions.

77. Key Element: SBRR Foundation
Scientifically based reading research (SBRR) provides a general knowledge and understanding of the reading research
Phonemic awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension

78. Key Element: Assessment
Assessment for instructional decision making prepares educators to administer reading assessments and use that data for differentiating instruction, planning PD, and problem solving
Screening
Diagnosis
Progress monitoring
Outcome measures

79. The Heart of Prevention
Notes:
However, early screening is at the heart of prevention. A crucial role of screening is to identify children who may not reach the outcome or accountability standard unless we provide additional intervention. Screening is valuable when followed with additional intervention.
Screening must fit within an assessment system that targets important outcomes and leads to the development of an intervention plan to change those outcomes for students at risk. These are some key features of a good assessment instrument.
It’s like a check-up or screening you get at the doctor’s office where quick physical assessments including blood pressure, weight, temperature, pulse, etc. gives the doctor an indication of your overall health. Likewise, quick screening assessments available today allow us to reliably predict how well students will achieve grade-level reading.
Because reading affects our overall well-being and our ability to gain access to our world, we must be guardians of our students’ reading health.

80. Progress Monitoring: The Teacher’s Map
A change in intervention
Aim-line
Notes: Segue into progress monitoring as a vehicle for implementing the three tiers.
This is exactly the role of progress monitoring toward important reading outcomes.
Progress monitoring provides a road map for educators. It’s like a GPS.
In this figure, the first three Xs represent the child’s initial level of skills with respect to the accountability goal for the grade.
Across the bottom is month of the school year.
The bulls eye represents the accountability outcome for the child’s grade in school. If the child achieves that level of skill (or higher) then the child is on grade level and on track to meet standards for state accountability assessments in later grades.
The green line represents the course the child will need to follow to achieve the desired outcome.
The purple line represents a change or modification in the intervention plan. Sometimes the change may be a different intervention; sometimes the change may be additional time or practice opportunities within the same intervention. Sometimes you need a major course correction; sometimes a minor course correction will do.
But the child must stay on course to achieve the outcome.

81. The Delivery of Instruction: Instructional Design Principles
Big Ideas
Mediated scaffolding
Conspicuous strategies
Strategic integration
Primed background knowledge
Judicious review
Instructional Delivery
Describe.

82. The Design Principles Are Structured Around . . .
The schoolwide establishment of long-term reading goals and intermediate performance benchmarks
The early identification and frequent monitoring of students experiencing reading difficulties
The development of coordinated and differentiated instructional interventions for the full range of learners
3 interrelated areas

83. Talking Point

84. No Excuses Believe in the students Communicate high expectations
Meet the students where they are
Problem solve
Finally real improvement is lasting when…Read the points on the slide.
Problem solve means to work collaboratively with peers (ex. study groups, grade level meetings) to improve students’ achievement.

85. 3-2-1 Reflection • 3 things I learned • 2 things I am going to try
• 1 thing I want to know more about
Tell participants to be specific in their reflections. Instead of saying “I learned many new strategies,” say “I learned what a graphic organizer is and how to use one.”
Have volunteers share their reflections with the whole group or with members at their table.
This activity can be segued into a Piggyback Wrap-Around. In the Piggyback Wrap-Around, each person shares one thing they learned as a result of the workshop. The first person starts by saying, for example, “I learned how to use a graphic organizer.” The next person says (only) what the person immediately in front of her said and something new. For example, “I learned how to use a graphic organizer AND I learned how to measure reading fluency.” The next person says, “I learned how to measure reading fluency AND I learned that phonemic awareness is the top predictor of reading success.
It is important for participants to keep their statement brief and concise (not wordy-make every word count) when doing the Piggyback Wrap-Around. This activity can be done with a large group or with group members at a table.
Piggyback Wraparound